Monday, January 20, 2014

Finding

I think that is a great idea to pray for people's needs in a prayer as we visit their home.

So finding is strange here. We do knock doors a lot but is is not just tracking it is by referrals or people that say that we can come back. I actually taught a district meeting on this the other day. Our mission president called it varied finding. I went throughout all of my baptisms and tried to figure out how we found them. Most of them were from active member referrals. Sometimes we get these amazing people that call us and tell us that they want to be baptized. That has happened 1 time on my mission so far. That was a cool day.

So this week we found 2 new investigators. One was from tracking and the other was from a member invite. The member invite we have been trying to contact this kid for 2 months and his mom has not answered the door to us. Then a member comes along and asked for us and they say yes! That is why members are better at finding then we are. They have the connections we are striving for. The kid was really funny yesterday at church, after sacrament meeting he came up to us and said, "Will you baptize me?" We smiled really big at that moment. Sundays are good days. His Mom recently lost her husband about 2 years ago and so she went inactive. Now she is living with a boy friend so she did not feel comfortable at church. The boy (he is 9 years old) has his dad's scriptures and he shows a lot of love for them. He is a great kid. He will be baptized on the 1st of Feb. He is so excited. I love baptisms. we have another kid we found though our area book of someone previous missionaries dropped. He will be baptized on the 15th of Feb. He is 15 years old.

We also have this other family that is going to our ward. She has 2 kids that are unbaptized that go to church. A member that we invited to invite them to meet with us got back to us yesterday and said that she just so happened to sit next to her in church so she said that it was a sign that she better invite her to meet with the missionaries. When the member invited her she told her that she really wanted to get baptized and she felt ready for it. Miracles all over Utah. I love my mission. We are finding new people every week that are basically just waiting to get baptized. It is a land of wonder and a land that is filled with the spirit. That is why I believe that we are the highest baptizing valley in the world English speaking.

We also meet some really sad circumstances like a guy who has 6 kids all under 9 and the guy has now removed his name from the records of the church because he now does not believe in God. His wife is still really active but he is not at all. He is willing to talk about it. He was talking to us for a long time, but he just does not believe in the church at all. He wanted to find out the truth as well. He was fasting and praying and reading the scriptures when he came to the conclusion that God does not exist or if he does he does not deal with us directly. How does that happen? It is really sad to see this Mom go to church with their children and to know that the husband is just at home. He thinks that the church will limit your view. So he actually discourages the kids from going to church. It was a tough circumstance and I am feeling so bad for the wife who when they got married was fully active and now he is in the opposite direction and trying to take the kids in that direction as well. He is such a nice guy. He is very kind to us and is still very helpful. I just wish there was something that we could do for that family.

Over all, this week as been wonderful. I have loved it all. I am learning every day and wish I could learn so much faster. I love my companion I could not do this with out him.

To go back to finding. I have gotten 1 baptism out of a media referral. 1 baptism out of cold door knocking (tracking). One out of a prepared investigator (he called us and said he wanted to be baptized.) Most of the others are out of member referrals and member invites.

We have transfers next week. Elder Mansfield has been out in Utah for almost 7 months waiting for his visa to Brazil. I think that he will be in a trio next transfer. I feel a little bad for him, but I don't really want him to leave. I think he is too good a missionary. We are going to be baptizing like crazy in this upcoming transfer.

P.S. we call it exchanges when we switch with another missionary. When we go out with non missionaries we call it a split.

Elder Joshua Walker

The Missionary

About Elder Walker

Elder Joshua Walker is serving in the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission (English speaking) for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from January 2013 - January 2015. He's from Modesto, CA and studied at BYU-Idaho.

The Utah Salt Lake City South Mission

Utah Salt Lake City South Mission Website

The Utah Salt Lake City South Mission has a website here that has pictures of the mission. Keep your eyes open for Elder Walker when he's in the field!